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Stephen Jackson‘s last contract with Golden State was a killer. They were forced to dump it to Charlotte, who was desperate for anyone who could play (and that decision helped lead them to, you know, last year). Then Charlotte had to get rid of it by dropping it to Milwaukee. Milwaukee was able to handle…

I think one of the worst things that can happen to a writer is when his references become outdated. So naturally I elected to go with the “Good Will Hunting” reference, here. Anyway, Doc Rivers was talking about Darko Milicic, and the conversation comes across like a horse whisperer or some sort of counselor. He’s…

The Warriors, when the draft was approaching, were desperate for small forward help. They wanted an experienced player to “make the” at the position. They couldn’t find a star upgrade by trading the draft pick, so they picked up Harrison Barnes. They still don’t have that star, but as it turns out, they have enough…

J.R. Smith‘s abilities are both limited by and boosted by his confidence in his abilities. He has every bit of faith that he can make any shot he needs to, most often without the use or help of his teammates. It can propel his team to victory or send his coaches into a deep depression.…

Rodrigue Beaubois injured his ankle in the third quarter of the Mavericks’ exhibition matchup Saturday against Alba Berlin in Berlin, Germany. Beaubois came down wrong trying to defend on a drive and just buckled. Video courtesy of Eye on Basketball: Beaubois has had injuries derail his potential the last few years, and it was thought…

Andrew Bogut has what you might call a false positive ID for being injury-prone. While it’s true that Bogut has lost a huge number of games over the past three seasons to injury, much of that has stemmed from a serious of freak injuries. He doesn’t have the worrisome food problems that plague so many…

Marcin Gortat kind of gets lost when people talk about the Suns. He had some really great years next to Steve Nash (related, everyone has really great years next to Steve Nash). With all the changes to the Suns, the focus is always on the new players like Goran Dragic (who’s actually an old player…

October brings with it a rush of NBA news. Training camp starts, teams begin assessing if they need to make a pre-season trade, injuries unfortunately occur, preseason games begin and everyone is in the “best shape of their careers” on teams “ready to compete for a championship.” October is Hopetober for the NBA and outside…

Joe Johnson was the face of the Hawks for over half-a-decade. He as a six-time All-Star with Atlanta, and in retrospect, took them to a level of respectability that gets overlooked because of how tough his era turned out to be. Now that he’s in Brooklyn, apparently everyone’s asking him why he decided to bail…

Isiah Thomas continues to haunt Knicks fans like the ghost of Balkmans past. Meetings with James Dolan, consulting for superstars and their careers, Knicks fans are always looking over their shoulder for the return of the once and future GM. Well maybe now they can rest a little easier. Thomas said in an interview with…

In case you missed the news, Memphis native Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway is about to become a minority owner of the Grizzlies (along with Peyton Manning and Justin Timberlake). Consider this a reminder that there was a time when the four-time All-Star and Shaq partner in Orlando could just flat out ball.

Here is our regular look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT) — done in bullet point form. Because bloggers love bullet points. • Kobe Bryant has sat out the last couple of Lakers practices with a…

J.R. Smith may get his wish, but not for a full season. Smith has been one of the best sixth men in the NBA for years — he comes off the bench, can score, picks up the defensive intensity. He can be a gunner, he can be erratic, but the energy can’t be questioned. And…

Since the NBA announced they were going to be reviewing potential flops at the league office the next day, and fining players determined to have flopped, the big question has been “where will they draw the line?” Friday, the league released a video showing what would and would not draw a flop (that video is…

Don’t read anything into the final score. Yes, the Celtics dropped their preseason opener 97-91 to Fenerbahce Ulker in Istanbul, Turkey. No, at times it was not really pretty — stretches of weak rebounding, too many turnovers and an offense that had fits and starts — but what do you expect in your first preseason…

What Phil Jackson did as a coach better than any coach ever was get players to believe in their roles. Not simply just know, but fully and totally believe in that role and its place in the team dynamic. He often did it by guidance and letting the players discover this for themselves — the…

It’s not that serious, nothing that would likely cause a player to miss more than a game in the regular season. However, in the preseason teams tend to be more cautious. Philadelphia’s Thaddeus Young sprained his ankle and is day-to-day, tweets Bob Cooney of the Daily News. He didn’t take part in a team scrimmage.…

Last season: Worst. Team. Ever. Literally, no team has ever finished with a worse winning percentage than the 7-59 Bobcats. That had to sting owner Michael Jordan. They were the least efficient team in the league on offense and defense (they both scored the fewest and allowed the most points per possession in the league).…

The headline is a little misleading, Chris Paul doesn’t cut a swath through L.A. in this video, just Venice Beach. Which is it’s own, interesting, subset of Los Angeles. It’s one of the most visited, most iconic parts of L.A., but it’s not L.A. No one place is. That’s the great thing about the city.…

It’s one of the mantras of star players heading into the season — they want to get their teammates involved more. “I’m going to shoot less and pass more.” Everyone says that until the games start, and even if they do it in November by February it’s a different story. But there are exceptions to…